19-13? 9-9 in the SEC?
This is a realistic take. You'll get pummeled soon.Unknown roster, hard schedule, difficult SEC, no definite elite player = probably a pretty accurate prediction for now.
Many on here will LOL at that prediction. But a slightly-better-than .500 record will not surprise me. I'd put the over/under on regular season wins at 20.5.
It’s the same ones being pessimistic man.Pope went 23-11 last year while playing a hard schedule in the best conference in the country.
He brings his best player with him, and managed significant upgrades at every position.
And you guys don't think he can replicate a 23 win season?
Child, please.
34 games last year, only 31 this year. Also, look at pre-conference schedule. Nothing like he will play at UK. So he will have to go 23-8 to win 23 game. For the record, I predicted 22-9 / 21-10, but lets not act like that will be easy to do, 23-8 I will consider a very good year. What do you predict ?Pope went 23-11 last year while playing a hard schedule in the best conference in the country.
He brings his best player with him, and managed significant upgrades at every position.
And you guys don't think he can replicate a 23 win season?
Child, please.
34 games last year, only 31 this year. Also, look at pre-conference schedule. Nothing like he will play at UK. So he will have to go 23-8 to win 23 game. For the record, I predicted 22-9 / 21-10, but lets not act like that will be easy to do, 23-8 I will consider a very good year. What do you predict ?
They played 31 games to. The extra were because of the conference tourneys, they had to play 2 extra games in the conference tourney.34 games last year, only 31 this year. Also, look at pre-conference schedule. Nothing like he will play at UK. So he will have to go 23-8 to win 23 game. For the record, I predicted 22-9 / 21-10, but lets not act like that will be easy to do, 23-8 I will consider a very good year. What do you predict ?
My bad. But the pre-conference element is still there. They faced ONE decent team (San Diego State) in the pre conference portion. Yes they did play NC State, but they was hot, runny **** before the ACC Tournament.
OK, I was wrong on that. But he only increased the win total by 1. (UCF in the first round of Big 12 tournament.) He got 10 of his 23 wins off a very soft OOC schedule (not counting NC State and SD State) as easy wins, the other 10, yes. So 12-1 in OOC games and the two teams they beat was not exactly great. Not like he went 12-6 / 13-5 in the Big 12. 10-8 is actually middle of the round / .500UK will play more than 31 games this year. The 34 you mention included post season play for BYU.
I believe he will play a tough St John's team as well.BYU's pre-conference schedule : 2023/24
Houston Christian (home)
SD State (home)
SE Louisiana (home)
Morgan State (home)
Arizona State (neutral)
NC State (neutral)
Fresno State (neutral)
Evansville (home)
@ Utah (loss)
Denver (home)
Georgia State (home)
Bellarmine (home)
Wyoming (home)
13 games, 9 home games. 1 away, and 3 neutral sites. hardly a murderers row.
Went 10-8 in said toughest conference, not exactly dominating the Big 12, merely .500.
beat lowly 17-16 UCF in the 1st round of the Big 12 tournament, loss to Texas Tech in the 2nd game.
Lost to Duquesne in the field of 64.
I say all of this to point out, his 23 wins was not that tough to do. Cupcake pre-conference and went barely OVER .500 in the Big 12, got a win from 16-17 UCF in the Big 12 tournament.
This year Pope will face Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville (greatly improved), Ohio State, and play a tough game in the ACC/SEC challenge. Those are the games we know of.
Not until the 2025-2026 season.I believe he will play a tough St John's team as well.
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But you have to take things into context as well . Whether people want to admit it or not pope has better players at Kentucky than he did at byu, he got his best scorer from byu here.Not to mention, he will not have the luxury of having 9 of his cup cake pre-conference schedule games be at home (BYU last year). The toughest games will be neutral site games in a big time tournament like setting / venue. 23 wins with BYU's schedule (even including playing the Big 12), is a lot easier to obtain than coaching at UK. Very few easy wins, then factor in UK taking everyone's best shot, and he has his work cut out for him. To say "he won 23 at BYU" is not as big of a statement that some think it is. I think he can, which is why I predicted the record I did, but it is not a given just because he did so at BYU.
Agreed but our roster seems to be made up of the Type players who have won pretty consistently the last 5 years. I hope we don’t go .500.In reality, who knows?
While Pope did a great job assembling this team from scratch, with many nice pieces, nobody has the slightest of ideas as to how this will all play out.
I personally have no idea how the team chemistry will be, and I have no idea how well Pope will be able to juggle all these transfers and available playing time...
OK, I was wrong on that. But he only increased the win total by 1. (UCF in the first round of Big 12 tournament.) He got 10 of his 23 wins off a very soft OOC schedule (not counting NC State and SD State) as easy wins, the other 10, yes. So 12-1 in OOC games and the two teams they beat was not exactly great. Not like he went 12-6 / 13-5 in the Big 12. 10-8 is actually middle of the round / .500
You should know that Pope winning 23 games at BYU doesn’t translate to him winning the same or more at UK. If the roster was loaded then possibly, but it’s not.Pope went 23-11 last year while playing a hard schedule in the best conference in the country.
He brings his best player with him, and managed significant upgrades at every position.
And you guys don't think he can replicate a 23 win season?
Child, please.
It's only a guess.Total losses including secT and ncaaT will not exceed 11.
Talent--effort--COACHING will generate outstanding results.
begok is GONE---WINNING now matters
rr
Top end, high level talent. Nearly every player was a guy who was the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th options on their teams. They weren’t exactly on loaded powerhouse teams either.Pushback: what does his first team lack that would justify so many predicted losses?
No joke.Pope went 23-11 last year while playing a hard schedule in the best conference in the country.
He brings his best player with him, and managed significant upgrades at every position.
And you guys don't think he can replicate a 23 win season?
Child, please.
He beat KU AT KU. You think they don't care? Please. Big12 cares about basketball. Big time.You should know that Pope winning 23 games at BYU doesn’t translate to him winning the same or more at UK. If the roster was loaded then possibly, but it’s not.
The reason it doesn’t translate is because every single team we play will give 110% and their A game trying to beat us. Nobody gets up to play BYU. Not to mention our OOC schedule is way harder than theirs was.